BY Lyle Hansen
Discover Credit Card Company recently launched www.creditscorecard.com/registration, a website that allows anyone who signs up to check their FICO® Credit Score for free! You don’t need to be a customer of Discover. The website clearly shows registered users what’s negatively impacting their score and allows them to take corrective action. Unlike other websites, such as CreditKarma.com, Credit.com, Quizzle.com, and CreditSesame.com that offer a free credit score based on the less-used FICO® VantageScore, Discover’s Credit Scorecard website is the only one that offers consumers their FICO® Credit Score (aka Classic Score) that is used by the majority of financial institutions when consumers apply for installment loans (car and home) and revolving credit (credit cards). I personally signed up to be a user of the site and got my free FICO® Credit Score. I found the site easy to use and it provided useful information.
There are mostly positives in utilizing this tool; it is easy to use and currently the only place a consumer can go to get a free FICO® Credit Score. Also, your credit score is unaffected when Discover pulls your credit to determine your score. The only negative aspects are that you have to submit personal data, including your Social Security number and address, and Discover markets their credit cards to you. This information is needed to properly access an accurate credit score (also required when using annualcreditreport.com to get your free credit reports). The results comprise just one score from Experian; you may want to see all three scores if you are planning on applying for a car or home loan. Scores from TransUnion and Equifax may be obtained from myFICO.com for $19.95 each.
Discover’s Credit Scorecard website gives us the information needed to be proactive in building and maintaining a respectable credit score. Give the site a try, then email me about your experience or with questions you have at lhansen@uidaho.edu. For more information on this topic, go to https://msuextension.org/solidfinances/pastrecordings.html and watch my Solid Finance presentation on credit scores.
Lyle Hansen a is University of Idaho Ada County Extension Educator.